Tasted in Préhy with Laurent and Marie-Noëlle Ternyck, and Stéphane Sallet, 19 January 2017.
Domaine de Mauperthuis
3, Grande rue de Chablis
89800 Préhy
Tel: +33 3 86 41 42 70
www.domaine-marronniers.com
Laurent on 2016:
“Well the domaines are split into two areas – for Marronniers it was really terrible because of the hail. Prehy lost just about everything frost and hail.
“Domaine de Maupertuis was less touched, as much of the vines are near Beine so this was okay.
“We saw only 12 hl/ha in Irancy – and this was mainly due to mildew. But the reds look great with concentration and maturity. It was harder for the whites. In the end our volume was just 25% of a normal vintage.”
The wines…
As usual, just a super range in interesting, individual wines – the team really like to push the envelope! A 100% cesar too. Most of the whites here seem to offer a faint finishing tannin – either that or the cesar lingers! But I anyway like!
First some reds:
2015 Maupertuis, Bourgogne Le Brulis
Cool 2 day maceration. Just wait for tannins to begin hardening and then press. No oak, just 6 months in tank.
Nice depth and a pretty floral top note. Medium, medium plus colour. A decent base of tannin, and really a mouth-full of flavour. Punchy, gregarious, really not the most elegant style, but the fruit slowly lifts from the structure and it’s lovely. Fresh and quite nice finishing. Okay wine.
2015 Bourgogne Grand Reserve
12 months in barrel, 14% new oak, not yet bottled. Using more artisan barrels from the Loire today…
A little deeper colour. Oof, really deep, almost inky, wide, spiced almost a pyrazine type note (like the 2014!). Way more silky, a tannin at the base for sure, wide and fresh flavoured, lots of oak flavour and those are mainly oak tannins. A big jump of flavour in the mid-palate and finish. Textured quite good length. Really rather oaky today, but also much more personality vs the first…
2015 Irancy
12 months in barrel for elevage, about 10% new. Massale selection, near Mazelots, 40-60 year-old vines. About 5% cesar in the mix.
Just a hint less colour. Deep nose, a little unformed, slowly opening a little with swirling. Wide and fresh, tannin at the base but very fine, fresh and open. A really a more interesting mid-palate and slowly fading note in the finish. All these reds are reluctant today, but this is showing quite well.
2015 Irancy Mazelots
Still in barrel, planning 18 months of elevage.
A rather high-toned, brighter nose, rather floral, almost volatile. Wide, intense, rather a nice width of complex flavour though. I like the second half of this wine very much, the first half is, today, more particular.
2015 Irancy Palotte
Old vines ‘we hardly ever get more than 25 hl/ha’ and here there is much more cesar.
Darker coloured, yet the nose is much more controlled, a suggestion of the silky and a fine, almost chocolate edge to the fruit aromas. In the mouth, this is wide, concentrated and intense, yet the fruit opens and is complex and very interesting. It’s very engaging, nice wine!
2015 Bourgogne Cesar
Young vine cesar has massive clusters but as it ages it becomes ‘calmer’ – here are 80 year-old vines in Palotte that have hardly 30hl/ha rendements and also rarely go above 12° alcohol. Yes, this is 100% cesar! 12 months in barrel, will be bottles in spring.
Deep colour. Spicy, chocolatey, it smells much more interesting than the 2014! Wide, fresh, supple, a nice depth of flavour and really quite interesting mid-palate complexity. This is rather nice. Floral in the finish, complex, – I like!
Les blancs…
2015 Bourgogne Chardonnay Les Truffièrre
Also from Irancy, but there’s no appellation for Irancy blanc. About 8/9 months on lees.
Vibrant, mineral, but a nice cushioning of fruit too. A modest width but with a little roundness of flavour. A little savoury aspect to the flavours here, but a fine finishing line of flavour which I like very much more.
2015 Bourgogne Chardonnay Renouel
Here with barrel elevage but all in 10-12 years old barrels. Very small production .17 ha, old vines in Irancy.
A nose with some similarities to the last but more yellow citrus. A little more weight of texture, good complexity, cleaner, more transparent. This is invigorating and really fine in the mid-palate. Hyper-interesting – very yum!
Now Domaine des Marronniers:
10 months on the lees all in stainless steel. By the church of Préhy, behind the buildings of JM Brocard.
A fresh nose, modest of dimension, but a fine clarity of lemon-fresh citrus. Wide, pretty, a little intensity and a growing delicious mid-palate agrume. Finishing very well. This is delicious!
2015 Chablis
Mainly from Préhy and Courgis – about 10 hectares worth. 12 months elevage on lees in tank.
A faint spice, lime, clean and engaging. Fine width, a hint of softness to the overall shape. Very finely transparent, a growing flavour complexity in the mid-palate. Tasty wine and the finish is excellent. Perhaps just a little subdued, but the freshness is really okay.
2015 Chablis Vielles Vignes Les Malantes
Malantes is the name of the climat. Planted in 1976. 12 months elevage in foudres with lees, another 3 months on lees after racking before bottling.
A big, fresh, open nose, clean, interesting, a little mineral at the base. Extra width, extra complexity, again a little soft but this plays very nicely over the palate. A sweetness of oak, but no overt notes. This is very tasty wine indeed, perhaps even better with a little more rigour. But very yum! Great finishing, lots of yellow fruit.
2015 Chablis 1er Montmains
From Butteaux, 14 months elevage 2.5 ha, 35 yo vines.
Hmm, bright and fresh, mineral and agrumes very attractive! A hint of gas, wide, fine, very tasty fresh flavours. Melting on the plate, fine intensity and a lovely extra dimension in the mid-palate. Fine and tasty wine with a super finish
2015 Chablis 1er Côte de Jouan
Still selling the 13, then they will start selling the 12 before the 14. A small parcel of 0.27 ha. A recalcitrant malo! Old barrels of 8-9 years old 400litre. Vines from the bottom of the hill.
You can see that the nose is not finished but its open and bright. A little more richness of texture. Wide and really a super-engaging width of flavour. Lots of density. Lots of finishing presence – I would also say lots of potential, but to wait for.
2015 Chablis Valmur
Bought each year, choose the date of the harvest, a little more than 12 months in barrel. One new barrel from 7 or 8
Less depth of aroma, but a very nice fresh and faintly spiced citrus top note. Vibrant, plenty of complexity, fresh and direct – lovely mid-palate intensity too. A floral anecdote in the finishing flavour – a broad and fine finish – modest intensity but long, long. Lovely…
2015 Chablis Cuvée Amphore
Bottled for 1 month, 1,200 bottles as a test. On red clay, destemmed, amphora, and 12 months on skin. Vertical press. Not filtered or fined
Modest clarity, it’s a deep nose, higher toned bove – a little saline, but no other clear hooks here. In the mouth, this has weight, some richness of flavour, there is certainly a minerality and growing intensity. A good line of finishing flavour, no faults, though a wine I can only describe as interesting as opposed to tasty.
2015 Saint Bris Cuvée Amphore
Also a modest haze. I find more character here, the sauvignon fruit is modest but with good points of connection, blurred at the edges, but interestingly, artistically so. More open, tannic, herby sauvignon – actually the herb is almost too much, yet there are pretty flashes of interest too. Wide and fresh, clean finishing. Tannic texture. The last drops in the glass a little more interesting and even floral.
10 months on lees.
Sauvignon on the nose, yet crystalline and complex, not aggressive. Wide, supple, complex, a little herb, more acidity than the last two, bright complex. And let me say it – delicious – the finish is complex clean and very tasty. bravo!